Family Portrait
by LizzySong
Summary: It's been one year since El closed the gate and was officially adopted by Jim Hopper. Now shes free to live her life as normally as she can, and the first thing she wants is to celebrate the holiday season with her friends and family. (Christmas oneshot featuring all the kids, teens, and Hopper - centered around El)


**Author's Note: We now interrupt your regularly scheduled angst for this fluffy holiday-oneshot! I got a request on my tumblr to write a oneshot about Eleven's first official Christmas where she insists they all get a photo with Santa, so this is what I came up with! Hope you enjoy!**

 **Until the next fic!**

 **-LizzySong**

Freedom. Finally. Finally, she was free to leave the cabin whenever she wanted without fear of being found by the bad men. It had been a little over a year since El had closed the gate and since Hopper had officially, legally, become her father. --Well, he had paperwork that said so, anyway.

It was December and everyone in Hawkins was getting ready for Christmas, Hopper had even taken her to pick out a Christmas tree, any one she wanted, and let her decorate it however she wanted.

When she would go into town with the rest of the Party (usually accompanied by Joyce), she always insisted on going into the shops who's windows were decorated for the holidays.

In the general store one day there was a sign advertising that someone called Santa Claus would be there for kids to take pictures with. Upon reading this, El tugged on Mike's arm gently to get his attention and quietly asked, "Who's San...ta?" She pointed at the sign as she sounded out the word so that he would know what she was talking about.

"Santa Claus?" said Mike, "He's this magical person who brings Christmas presents to everybody who's been good."

El nodded slightly and moved on, making a mental note to talk to Hopper about it later.

Later that night when she was sitting across from her surrogate father eating dinner, she mentioned that the "Magical Christmas Man" was going to be at the general store on Saturday.

"...Santa?" Jim asked, and El nodded taking a forkful of her dinner. "You wanna go and see him?" The girl smiled and nodded again, "All of us," she said and the policeman knew she was referring to her friends. "Okay," he said with a smile, planning on telling Joyce about it and letting her be in charge of the affair.

Eleven's eyes lit up with excitement and she quickly stood up, walking around the table and wrapping her arms around Hopper's shoulders. "Thank you," she whispered into his ear, and he hugged her in return. "You're welcome, kid," he said quietly, a slightly sad smile on his face.

Saturday came, far too slowly for the fourteen-year-old girl, but it did come. She woke up early to get ready, putting on her favorite dress -- the blue one with purple trimming that she'd worn last year to the Snow Ball -- putting on some makeup, and eagerly waking Hopper.

Meanwhile at the Wheeler household, Nancy was waking Mike up, insisting that they'd be late if he didn't start getting ready. Nancy still wasn't entirely sure how she got mixed into this whole getting a picture with Santa thing -- she was eighteen, she hadn't gone to see Santa in years -- but she'd be damned if Mike made them late.

Mike was dreading having a picture taken with Santa and Nancy -- why did his mom want a photo of him and Nancy with Santa? They were both too old for this -- but El wanted him to come, so of course he agreed without hesitation.

Jonathan and Will were also getting ready, Joyce having insisted that Jonathan be in at least one photo with Will because she didn't have many pictures with both of her sons together.

Jonathan wasn't generally fond of having his picture taken, preferring to be behind the camera lens. But between his mother and El asking him to be in some of the photos, he just couldn't say no.

Lucas was helping Erica get ready, his mother having insisted that he take her with him. His younger sister was being surprisingly agreeable this morning, and he had a feeling it had to do with the fact that Max would be meeting them at the store.

Erica liked Max; they had a similar sense of humor and Max had even started teaching her how to skateboard. And Lucas was happy that Max got along with his sister -- as well as the rest of his family.

After hearing Mike and Lucas complain about their sisters coming to the Christmas picture thing, and Will confirming that Jonathan was being forced to come as well, Dustin had called up Steve to inform him that this photo thing was officially a sibling thing, and he needed to come to be Dustin and Max's brother. Steve, of course, agreed and promised to help Dustin and Max get ready.

So here they were, at Steve Harrington's house at nine-o'clock on a Saturday morning, getting ready to have their picture taken with Santa.

Max had complained about the nature of the photo, having stopped believing in Santa at the age of six herself. She liked El, it had taken a few months to get past their initial meeting, but they'd become good friends over the past year. Eleven was still naive in certain ways, however, and it sometimes annoyed Max.

"Listen," Steve had said in response to Max's complaints, "I get it. But that kid's been to hell and back -- a few times -- so just let her believe in and enjoy the stuff she didn't get to when she was little. Okay?" Max sighed, but nodded in agreement, knowing that he was right.

The whole group met in front of the store at ten-thirty, and everyone smiled at how happy El was. Then they walked in once they were sure everyone was there.

"Okay," Jonathan said to the group while they waited in line. "Jane, you and Hopper will go first. Then Dustin, Max and Steve; then Lucas and Erica; then Mike and Nancy; and then me and Will."

"...Then all of us?" El asked, and Jonathan nodded, giving her a smile. "Yeah," he said, "Then we'll do one with all of us."

Each individual family-group had their photos with Santa in the order that Jonathan had announced, which took about twenty minutes total, and was honestly much shorter than Jonathan had expected it to take with this group. Then they all grouped around Santa together for the group photo that El had insisted on, which turned out something like this: Jonathan and Nancy were in the back of the group to the left, kissing; Hopper stood next to them, looking rather uncomfortable of the whole situation, not only because of Nancy and Jonathan, but also because of El and Mike who were standing almost right in front of him; Mike holding mistletoe above his and El's heads -- this had been Nancy's idea -- and the two of them were kissing as well.

Steve was standing next to the uncomfortable Hopper, Dustin and Will standing in front of him. The teen was holding two fingers up behind each boy's head to make bunny ears and was grinning like an idiot, making both kids laugh.

Lucas, Max, were in front of Nancy and Jonathan with one arm behind each other in a sort of half-hug, both smiling.

Erica was the only one in the photo who actually acknowledged the fact that Santa was there, standing next to him and apologizing for the group she'd come with.

After they were finished and had been told they could come back tomorrow to pick up their photos, Steve suggested they all go out for breakfast -- his treat. Everyone agreed and they met at the only diner around, which was located just outside of town, where El got the biggest plate of waffles she'd ever seen, Hopper and Mike both insisting that if she loved Eggos then these would be the best thing she'd ever eaten. ...They were right.

Eleven was happier than she'd ever been as she sat, eating her favorite food, and surrounded by the people she thought of as her family. She was sure that this was what people always meant when they used the phrase "Christmas Cheer." It was the most normal she'd ever felt, and she couldn't be more thrilled or grateful to the people around her making her feel that way.

Suddenly, she turned in her seat and hugged Hopper tightly. "...What was that for?" he asked with a slightly confused smile when she'd let go of him. The girl smiled back and replied, "This," as she looked around the table at her friends. Hopper's smile widened and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It wasn't always easy being El's parent, but at times like this, he couldn't be happier to be her guardian.


End file.
